Walleye Express

Posted: Sun Nov 01, 2009 9:08 am Post subject: ice jigging the river im from up by traverse city and have only been on the saginaw river a handfull of times but every time, i have used like 5/16 oz. leadheads. last year, i saw everybody using the jigging raps. using leadheads, you jig out until your jig stays on bottom, maybe six or so feet from the hole using fireline. with the raps and there swimming action, don't they travel way down stream to far? just wondering how far they go they go away from the hole. and when you jig them, you don't bounce bottom like a leadhead do you? like i said, i never tried these in a river. what size? Posted: Sun Nov 01, 2009 9:36 am Post subject: Re: ice jigging the river Yes, depending on the river current, Jigging Raps will sweep downstream from the ice hole just like any offering your using will, but usually not as far as you think. Their stream lined body and (down) tapered tail finn design cuts the current way better then do plane jig heads. It also sweeps forward in the current when jigged better/easier. So your jigging and sweep angle stays more sharp to the bottom then does just about anything else with the same weight. And you always want the Rap to settle after a jig just above bottom IMV. I usually strive for about 4 to 6 inches after it settles, and sizes #7 and #9 are the most popular for the river. Walleye swim during winter almost exclusively (belly to bottom) fallowing the bottoms contour, and look up for their food. When they take a jig off the bottom it's because they seen it being jigged up and fallowed it's path back down. Then (in most cases) they have to position themselves (tail up) to grab it. Capt. Dan.

Ya, I figure like this. I've had that boat and motor for 21 years will little more then time ware problems with it. Had the same set of plug for 9 years. So she really don't owe me a thing. I'm glad they fixed it so fast though, as when I got home I had another message, and I booked a trip for tomorrow on the river. Fate give'ith/fate take'ith away. One more thing Adam, and this is embarrassing. I totally forgot your dads name yesterday. And it was driving me nuts. Hell, I've know him as long as I have your uncle Tom. I've always been a Faces man, just cannot remember names that well.:D

Funny deal with the boat. I get home from the bar and I have a message on my business phone from Lindys. "the motor is fixed, come pick up your boat". I almost stopped back in the bar on the way back home for the second time. Took Chet a whole 30 minutes after I droped it off to fix it. New Eletric Choke Solinoid $84.00. Ten minutes labor $40.00. And you guys thought the big money was in chartering.

My fishing board recently had a chat with John Gillman, a very successfull local Walleye pro from Freeland Mich. Thought I'd share the transcript with you guys here. 2009-10-24 20:00:44 [Message] capt.dan -> Fish Chat: John. All of us here at saginawbay.com would like to thank you for your willingness to share with us some of your fishing wisdom. There should be no other post in this fish chat section by members until the main chat is over. If there is John, please politely ignore them until the main pre-submitted questions that are asked by me are answered. Then at that time John, you can choose to stick around and answer any fallow ups or new questions that may arise. I believe you told me that this is the only site on the entire Internet that you have ever considered joining, and for that we all thank you. It is indeed a shame that many of the fishing pros are afraid to interact on very few of the other fishing boards out there, because of the ridicule and slams most get for no apparent reasons, while trying to help out the common anglers. Tonight John, I'll be asking you some questions that I have pre-typed and/or taken from some of our board members. I'm guessing most will be mine because frankly, we still have many members who still think "Mark Martin" is a race car driver. And even though I know of your many years of fishing tournament successes, most may not. Anyway, here's the first question. Question from Bob Charmicale/ChamookMan. John, I'd like to know how you feel this economy is going to effect the future of Walleye tournaments? And if think it has already? 2009-10-24 20:04:51 [Message] jgillman -> Fish Chat: Hi Guys, Thanks for having me! I think the economy has taken it's toll on tournaments. I hope things turn for the better because I feel tournament anglers bring a lot of new cutting edge information to the weekend anglers! In the last few years the price of boats and equipment rising at the rate it has does not help! 2009-10-24 20:05:12 [Message] capt.dan -> Fish Chat: Question From Mark Smith. If you could only have ONE crank bait in your tackle box, what would you choose? Follow up, and if you could have two, whats your 2nd choice? (softwater season) Mark Smith aka msmith5531 thanks. 2009-10-24 20:10:01 [Message] jgillman -> Fish Chat: The one crankbait I would have would probably be a #5 Shad Rap. Second would be a Husky Jerk! I do have a new favorite and it is the Madeye Shad from Spro. I do not want to sound like I am advertising here but I have been fortunate enough to be involved in the promotion of this bait with the guys I fish(Team) with and we are excited to be a part of it. It is similar in size to a #5 Shad Rap ecept it is equiped with Gamakatsu hooks and has a unique paddle tail. It, like the #5 Rap can be casted or trolled. 2009-10-24 20:10:32 [Message] capt.dan -> Fish Chat: Capt. Dan Question 1. John, if you had only one fishing technique or disciplines you could pick as your own (ace in the hole) when it comes to tournament fishing, what would that be and why? 2009-10-24 20:26:00 [Message] jgillman -> Fish Chat: My number one favorite tournament technique is trolling spinners. I have cut my teeth here on Saginaw Bay pulling spinners and have a lot of confidence with them. I almost exclusively use 1 Oz. in-line weights and try to stay at 1 mph. With this combination I can target the fish on my electronics because I feel confident where the bait is in the water column. There are times that I do troll faster than 1mph and slower than 1mph, I try to let the conditions dictate that or let the fish tell me what they want. Mixing it up and changing helps to get a feel for what works best that day. All of my best tournament finishes have come in a trolling situation and again I feel it is due to my confidence from doing it so much here on Saginaw Bay. If I can troll spinners at any event I will.In many situations and at different bodies of water you cannot troll so my confidence lacks! Confidence is probably as big a factor in fishing as anything. Capt. Dan Question 2. What are you favorite tournament baits/cranks/tackle and techniques when fishing Saginaw Bay? My favorite baits on Saginaw Bay..Obviously spinners.. Chartreuse beads with Silver or gold Blades.I keep it very simple. I do also like the rainbow holographic blade from Northland. Anyone that knows me, knows that this is the combination I pull almost exclusively!! All of the tournaments I have excelled in on Saginaw Bay or any open water event have been with that color combination. As far as crank baits I have always loved Rapala, probably like most. I use the Deep Husky Jerk, size 10 and 12 and #18 Rapalas trolling. The # 5 Shad Rap casting the man made Island is also a go to for me. I do have a new favorite though and it is the Madeye Shad from Spro. I have been fortunate to be involved with this bait and it has been exciting getting it off the ground and promoted. It is similar in size to the # 5 Shad Rap and runs similar also. It does have a unique paddle tail and is equipped with Gamakatsu treble hooks. I wanted to take this opportunity to talk about it and to generate questions or interest. You can email me at [email protected] with any questions about it. Fish Chat: Capt. Dan Question 3. Do you have a BIG FISH strategy at all on Saginaw Bay, that may differ from your (just fill the box) strategy? 2009-10-24 20:30:48 [Message] jgillman -> Fish Chat: This will probably sound redundant to some but my BIG fish technique for Saginaw Bay would be to fish the bottom. Again this is due to past experience and success doing it. I would pull 2 oz. bouncers or 1 oz. in-lines in the mud!! I know that the bay has evolved in the last few years and it seems as though where ever in the column you fish you catch a lot of fish. I still believe the Big girls lay on the bottom. I realize they suspend but I would still always target the bottom. I feel the biggest fish are in the inner Bay, but to catch 5 is almost impossible. You need to run North to get consistently bigger fish! The tournaments keep proving that! 2009-10-24 20:31:16 [Message] capt.dan -> Fish Chat: Capt. Dan Question 4. I've seen you work on the water and I must say you are a speed demon. You sat up and fished 3 different spots around me one day on the Bay, and I bet you never stayed in any of those 3 spots more then 20 minutes each. What were you looking for in that short period time and what didn't you see that made you move so much? 2009-10-24 20:37:15 [Message] jgillman -> Fish Chat: As far as moving around, I will do that frequently. Over the years I have learned to use and trust my electronics. If I am not marking (catching) fish, I move. I think that a lot of guys will relax, sit back and keep trolling. As a tournament fisherman my time is limited so I try to capitalize and find fish. As for Saginaw Bay I always move if I am not Marking fish. With today's electronics it helps out immensely!! Invest in good electronics and try to use them to benefit your success. 2009-10-24 20:37:33 [Message] capt.dan -> Fish Chat: Capt. Dan Question 5. John, I've heard some say that it's your positive attitude that keeps you in the game during tournaments. But I know through personal fishing experiences myself that the bag of tricks one has, along with attitude can be worn down when you've exhausted all the options. So what keeps you and your head in the game when all seems lost and the fishing SUCKS? 2009-10-24 20:41:09 [Message] jgillman -> Fish Chat: As for keeping a positive attitude sometimes that is tough. You can only control so many things.The weather is a huge factor in walleye fishing as all of you know. Try to do the best you can with the conditions you face. As a tournament angler sometimes it is frustrating because the experienced anglers will shine, and a big part of that is the fact that they have fished a certain body of water in many different conditions. I think that for myself I am not as knowledgeable as others due to the fact that I have not played the game as long. What I try to do in that situation is focus and fish harder. I typically have a different energy level than most and in certain situations that helps me. Lastly, It is always better than working!!!! 2009-10-24 20:41:43 [Message] capt.dan -> Fish Chat: Capt. Dan Question 6. We recently had a post subject that caused some tempers to flare up a little on our site. It was about "Big Bite Bio Baits" and their own product quality, effectiveness and success rates when compared to the Berkley Gulp Product. I've personally never used the Big Bite product for comparison, but found myself defending what I know personally to be true about Gulp. And that is, "that you can re-use the Gulp product after its initial use" if you reconstitute it. I know you are a Big Bite and Spro fishing gear Rep. But I also know from our brief meeting that you are (IMO) an honest man willing to share good information with anybody willing to listen. (I did not quite get that feeling President Bush got when he first met president Putin "thank God", but I'd trust you to drive my boat.) And that's at the top of the latter with me. Anyway, to both be fare and introduce to us what might be a new product for us guys to use on the Bay, could you give us an honest overview of your own experiences with Big Bite Bio Baits, how you run them and any other tid-bits on products you use that would enhance our fishing catch rates? And it may be helpful after you've answered this question, to take a few questions about the products from the gallery. As this is my last pre-submitted question. 2009-10-24 20:49:57 [Message] jgillman -> Fish Chat: Big Bite baits is a scent impregnated plastic. It is a bass plastic company that is now breaking into the walleye market. The guys I travel with, Tom Keenan, Pat Neu and Dean Arnoldussen are all involved in helping to promote and develop some new baits. We have the Bio-Minnow, Bio-Bug jig and the new Bio-Crawler. All of these baits we have used with good success. It will not dry out and is not immersed in liquid substance. Some of these items obviously compete with Berkley. Berkley has done a fabulous job with their products, they work and a big part of their success is also their marketing budget. Big Bite has decided to employ some prostaff to get started and I have been very fortunate to be one of them. We are introducing the items to the public and hopefully people will give it a try with an open mind! Locally, Franks has some of the products and will have more this spring. I am more than willing to discus the products with anyone and you can reach me via email, which I have given above. The Bio-bug is a jig designed similar to a fuzzy grub but the body is scent impregnated and it is a Gamakatsu hook. The body is also attached to the head so it does not slide. The Bio-Minnow is also scent impregnated and comes in 9 color combinations and 3 sizes. 2.5, 3, 4 inch. Lastly the crawler comes in natural and 5 other colors. I have used it for jigging and also on spinners trolling. Please check out the items also on the Big Bite website at bigbitebaits.com. 2009-10-24 20:51:37 [Message] Chamookman -> Fish Chat: John - What's Your favorire River technique ? 2009-10-24 20:53:36 [Message] jgillman -> Fish Chat: Chamookman.. My favorite river technique would be live bait rigging. Although in the last 2 years I have been handlining and it is a riot! 2009-10-24 20:53:46 [Message] ozzgood2001 -> Fish Chat: John-who was your first sponsor and how did you approach them or did they approach you? 2009-10-24 20:55:36 [Message] jgillman -> Fish Chat: Ranger Boats. I have been with them since I started and I appreciate what they do for tournemet anglers! 2009-10-24 20:57:12 [Message] Reel Fishn -> Fish Chat: John, I know everyone says they troll 1 to 1.5, I have been next to you and you seem to troll slower than that?? 2009-10-24 20:59:50 [Message] jgillman -> Fish Chat: I do typically troll at 1, some times I do troll slower than that. It depends, I let the fish tell me what they want. There are many situations where you may make a turn and all of a sudden you get bit. So I do mix it up a lot! 2009-10-24 21:00:07 [Message] capt.dan -> Fish Chat: What size blades are you favorites on the Bay John. Have you ever tried what I call thumpers? #7 & 8's? Ever use any of Tommy Harris Blades? 2009-10-24 21:03:06 [Message] jgillman -> Fish Chat: I have not used those blades! I typically use #4 or #5 but this year at Lake Erie I made the cut and did for the firts time use bigger blades. I will again in the future. Again it was a confidence issue and from now on I will practice with larger blades and if it produces bigger fish I will definitely run them on game day! 2009-10-24 21:03:36 [Message] capt.dan -> Fish Chat: Ever use any Keel Sinkers versus Bouncers? 2009-10-24 21:06:11 [Message] jgillman -> Fish Chat: I almost always use in-lines (keels) over bouncers. I know sometimes that the vibration of a boucer may have an effect but my confidence is for the most part with in-lines. I will always use bouncers next to the boat though. I almost exclusively use 1 ounce also! 2009-10-24 21:06:34 [Message] capt.dan -> Fish Chat: Last year on a few days when it was dead calm, I used what I call the "Haul and Stall". I would key my TR-1 to almost idle speed and then key it back to 2.3 MPH or higher. This caught me some fish. Have you ever tried this? 2009-10-24 21:08:57 [Message] jgillman -> Fish Chat: I have! It was in Dunkirk New York and I was pulling spinners on lead core in 80 feet of water. 3 colors of lead so the spinners were suspended, I would take the boat out of gear and let them sink. As they would fall I would get bit. I caught all of my fish that day using bthat technique! 2009-10-24 21:09:20 [Message] ozzgood2001 -> Fish Chat: john-when do you like to go shallow for eyes.. i mean 5 feet or less. besides the obvious answer when the fish are there lol 2009-10-24 21:12:08 [Message] jgillman -> Fish Chat: Obviously in the spring or fall. I prefished the PWT championship with a fellow travel partner in the spring of 2008. We caught fish on spinners in 2-5 feet of water 10 feet behind the board with no weight. It is very similar to what is done in Green Bay and we applied it here and it worked, problem though was not quantity but size! 2009-10-24 21:15:07 [Message] chuck -> Fish Chat: JOHN Thanks how long a spinner leader do you use behind your keels 2009-10-24 21:16:50 [Message] jgillman -> Fish Chat: All of my spinners are tied the same, about 5 feet. I also always use florocarbon line, again it is a confidence thing. 2009-10-24 21:17:16 [Message] Chamookman -> Fish Chat: Thanks for the time John and good luck next season ! 2009-10-24 21:17:21 [Message] capt.dan -> Fish Chat: John, I want to thank you again for coming in tonight. Also be sure to get those answers that did not post tonight to me in an E-mail so i can add them to the chat for the guys. 2009-10-24 21:17:34 [Message] jauls -> Fish Chat: Thanks John 2009-10-24 21:17:40 [Message] jgillman -> Fish Chat: Thank you, I appreciate that! 2009-10-24 21:18:11 [Message] capt.dan -> Fish Chat: We'll get the bugs worked out and you can come back for another chat if you don't mind. 2009-10-24 21:18:26 [Message] jgillman -> Fish Chat: Definitely! 2009-10-24 21:18:52 [Message] capt.dan -> Fish Chat: One more thing, we have to fish one day on the river day or night. The night has been rocking the last few times out. 2009-10-24 21:19:29 [Message] jgillman -> Fish Chat: We will for sure, I need to pick that brain of yours!! 2009-10-24 21:20:06 [Message] chuck -> Fish Chat: Thank you all for putting this together. 2009-10-24 21:20:28 [Message] capt.dan -> Fish Chat: No problem Chuck and don't be a stranger on the board. 2009-10-24 21:20:45 [Message] capt.dan -> Fish Chat: Good night John.

Wrote my fish biologist buddy an E-mail asking a question and requesting the trawl results for this year. That question and his reply below. Dave. Been knocking the hell out of the walleyes on the river lately, both day and night. Attached is a picture of a small 5 incher I pulled out of the stomach of a 6 pounder from last night. I've also recently seen perch fishermen pulling up one juvenile walleye after the other on the river using small minnows, as the river is gorged with small shiners and shad. This whole scenario got me thinking about something. What is the science and thought processes for doing the Fish data Trawls in September on the Bay. Wouldn't a big amount of these juveniles that you base your spring spawn data and findings on, be in the river and out of Trawls way (so to speak). And please let me know what the Trawl result and findings were for this September on the Bay (if you have them). Thank's Dave. Dan. Dan: I'm glad to hear the fishing is keeping up. The thought process is that in the late summer or early fall, that year's production of juveniles (young-of-the-year or what we sometimes call age-0s) would be large enough to catch. If we trawled in the summer or spring, they would just be fry or small fingerlings. By September, they are catchable. What you and others are mostly seing and getting in the river are yearlings or age-2s. We see a lot of those in the trawls too and in our gillnets. Yes there are lots in the river but there are still lots in the bay too. We don't have to be able to access all the fish during a survey, just sample consistently in the same place and the differences we see from year to year should represent genuine change (trends). Also I suspect the concentration of fish in the river may be greater in October than early September when we do our survey. And yes we have our preliminary findings for this past years hatch. The good news is that our September trawling catch rate of YOY or age-0 walleyes and the spring hatch year class of 2009 was yet another new record!. Huge numbers form all over the bay. Bigger numbers than any time we have surveyed (since 1971) and even bigger than the huge 2003 year class. This bodes very well for the continued high level of walleyes in the bay. The bad news is that the 2008 year class was much smaller (measured this year as yearlings), but we knew that. The bay now seems to be establishing strong and weaker year classes of walleye in an alternating fashion. This is a sign that the population is nearing capacity and "density-dependent" feedback mechanisms are beginning to kick in and regulate the population size. This was fully expected and is not necessarily a bad sign. This is typical of most walleye populations, but most populations only pull off a strong walleye year class say every few years surrounded by two or three weaker ones. Saginaw Bay seems to only endure one weaker one and then its right back to very strong ones. This walleye population continues to impress. We have yet to do all our aging of our specimens and then I'll know more about how growth rates are trending. I.e. we have more to learn from last months collections but this is our initial observations. Things are not perfect on the bay, our perch are still not surviving well and that population/fishery is at the lowest levels we have ever measured. Perch are important to the bay, I suspect that they drive fishing pressure (effort) as much or more than walleye even do. Our initial observations are that the bay's prey base is holding up nicely. Despite the expansion of the walleye population, the abundance of prey has not declined appreciably (in abundance but it has changed in composition). We have some new research planned for the bay including a statistical catch at age model that will help us understand the dynamics of the walleye population. We have some other ideas in the planning stage but are not funded yet. I'll let you know more about them if they get the nod.

Ever wonder what 6 pound walleyes eat? They eat smaller 5 1/2 inch walleyes. Pulled this little guy out of one of the big ones we kept from last night. Best argument I ever seen for Big Cranks/Big Fish.

Me and Reel fishin spanked the BIG ONES tonight on the river. Kept a one man limit to donate to the brothers retirment party this coming Saturday. Marks big one was over 8 pounds, she went back. Damn shame the picture turned out fuzzy.

Jim. This subject alone IMO brings to the surface feelings of varying degrees in each person. Seems when I was younger, I was perfectly content to let the world cruise along on it's own merry course as long as it didn't cramp my style. Who was President, Senator, Congressman and what their policies were, seemed to effect me very little if at all. As long as I had a job, gas money, could go hunting and fishing when I wanted to, and have all the female companionship I needed, life was good. Why worry about what my elected officials were doing. But this complacincy is the cancer these poloticians count on you ignoring until it's to late and they get their own idea of govenment. If you don't pay attention and the responsibility to put out your campfire when you leave the woods, the woods can and sometimes does burn down around you. Some people put that responsibility on a higher rung on the latter then others. It's not that the others would not help (if need be) to put the fire out. They'd just prefer to live their lives unhindered and unworried by such things, (who wouldn't) and trust that people like you would let them know in the nick of time, if their house and their families lives might be in any real danger from this fire. What I see in the white house and congress right now is one big group of pyromaniacs.

Never said there wasn't any good things in this country. That's why I passionetly defend our rights as best I can in my miniscule capacity. But don't think those rights are devine dictate and cannot be taken away by power hungry officials. I hope you never have to tell those lovely kids on your lap what America used to be like.

What, aren't you loving the CHANGE? And you've already seen the new flag Jim. The one with Obama dressed in his Arab robe looking like the Christ, with radiant beams of light shooting from his head. I've done everything a man can in a common citizens position. I've sent more letters to my congressmen & Senators this year then I ever have. The last one concerning his army of Communists loving Czars that he appointed, with all the Mow and Lennon loving people on it. Now I see the new government wants to take over the internet, so even those letters I send get censored and don't get where they are supposed to. The days of electing an official with your views to represent you in the government while you go about working, raising kids and enjoying life are over buddy. We may need to purge this plague apon our rights the same way we did the british. People who don't watch FOX news or the Glenn Beck show, is only hearing what Obamas Pied Piper machine is feeding them. The biggest CON and minipulation in the history of the world, that would make Hitler and Musolinie proud is being purpritrated on the American people. We all need to wake up and at least get passively involved or the America we know is over. Any other flag questions?:eek:

Thank's Steve. Will they accept phone calls? If so, I do better talking one on one in matters like this. But I don't want to start out cramping their style if writting is best.

Thank's Guys. What an outstanding walleye fishery the Saginaw River has turned into these last few years. Starting with Gary Parsons chat with us last February and his coaching both me and members on my site about the use of lead core line, that technique has breathed new life into my fishing enthusiasm and turned both spring and fall river fishing into a whole new fishing experience for me. And with the jig fishing producing as back-up so good and so soon this fall when the core lets us down, I have not once thought about or missed any other fall sport, or the outstanding Huron Ohio walleye fishery or any other place that historically produces great walleyes this time of year. What for, this fishery is 1 mile from my house. I feel truly blessed that I can sign off this web site and be catching walleyes in 15 minutes. I wish every Great Lakes Fisherman member could be this lucky, because it's truly like I died and went to walleye heaven. :grin:

The way things started out this morning, I wasn't to sure we were going to fish at all. The Ol'Jet drive (completely out of character) didn't want to start right up like she usually does. Seems I flooded it and it took quit a while to get her to start breathing again. But she finally started and we were off. The river was like glass and I thought this might be a good thing. I could fallow along the ledges a lot easier as we trolled, and keep the lead core and lure in whatever depth I wanted to on the ledge, without getting pushed off to either side by the wind. Well, it did work out that way, but the fish didn't seem to like much of anything in these spots, as everyone we seen and talked to who were both jigging and trolling had ZIP/NATTA. So onto plan "B", Vertical jigging. That paid off great. My Client "Jim" hooked the first one and it must have been nice. It would not come off the bottom and simply made deep pumps on the rod. But it got off half way up. The fish today seemed to come in spurts, but we managed to catch a 2 man limit by 3:30pm. All were released after a picture to continue their upstream migration. I've posted a few pictures of some of them. I also caught another tagged fish (see picture). The tag was removed and the info will be sent in tomorrow.

Phishy. If your living vicariously get your gear ready, because we're heading out in an hour with a client from Fowlerville this morning. We'll be keeping the fish today so bring your cooler. See you at the ramp.

Me and Reel Fishin launched the boat at 6:30 this evening and headed directly to our first lead core spot. The graph was wall to wall bait and huge hooks stacked around them. On our 2nd pass right at dark I caught our first walleye. But then even though all the signs stayed positive, the fishing went dead. We made another 5 or 6 passes but the bite (at least there) was over. On our way back towards the ramp we could visually see baitfish being busted at the surface in one of the Marinas under the lights around the docks. I told Mark those are probably white bass, so lets slide in there and throw some jigs. Well, we tried jigs for a while with no success, so just for kicks I tied on a #9 Sinking Rapala. Took a cast on top of some busting bait and WAM, fish on. But it was not a white bass, but a nice walleye. I rigged Mark up with another Rapala and the fun was on. We finished up going 4 for 7 in short order until the bait stopped jumping and the walleyes quit as well. What a blast. :D

The wife and I caned 8 more pints of walleye tonight. While they were pressure cooking I made up some walleye patties from 2 of the other jars we did earlier. Wow, first those fresh crappie sandwitches yesterday and now these golden brown beauties. God they are good.

I had about a dozen clamped to my hat at one point, but that hat blew off my head and out of the boat one day and I lost a few. I was always going to have something made up with them just never decided what.

Hey Mike. I got an anonymous E-mail this morning chastising me for not removing the band from the walleye we caught yesterday, and sending it into the DNR to be recorded. The person also wondered why I would not simply "at least" keep the band for a souvenir, as he was told by a DNR official that only about 1 in every 1,000 walleyes caught by fishermen are banded. So I sent that person this photo with the statement "That I must be doing something right then". :eek:

99.9% are taged at the Dow Dam in Midland. Neither mark or I had a pen to write down the number, so he went back with the others. I guess as an after thought, we might have removed the tag and turned in the info, but we didn't.

Mark/Reel Fishin was feeling a littlle sick this morning, so we decided not to troll at all and jig fished a new spot close to the ramp for whatever would bite, in case he got worse. Caught lots of sheeps, cats, whites, along with a Master Angler Crappie that hit the cooler. Only caught 3 keeper walleyes and one shorty. All were released to fight again another day. One was wearing some jewlery.

Yup......that's just like me. Wake up 3 days in a row before 7:00am and my whole world gets turned up-side-down. Come to look at it, my other "bonanza" post was a day a head of time as well. The only way to fix it and bring the Time space continuum back into order is to go fishing again yesterday in the same spot that I fished tomorrow. :confused:

I will not blame anybody if they think this report is bogus. Fact is, I'd think it was fabricated myself if I had not been part of it this morning. I will also say this, "Get ready Saginaw" because they are headed your way in BIG numbers and they are much bigger fish then last years. Me and my bud Reel Fishin started out trolling lead core as usual right at daylight this morning. But instead of trolling along breaks I/we decided to try trolling on some flats off the channel. Trolled for a 1/2 mile and I hooked and then lost a nice fish behind the boat. Not marking many fish on these flats like we did yesterday, we headed for our old steep ledge spot from yesterday. Mark just got his core out and bang, a 5 pounder. Two more passes and we had 3 nice walleyes in the cooler. But the north wind went from 7mph to around 20 in short order and the wind coming up river made boat control a nightmare, so we decided to call it a short day. Both Marks wife and mine are on the mend from recent surgeries, so any reduced fishing time goes in the bank. But as often hapens, on the way back to the ramp at no-wake speed, we came across this point in 23 FOW and the graph went crazy with baitfish and huge hooks on it. Knowing we only had another 45 minutes to an hour to fish reguardless, I decided to anchor on this spot and quarter cast to it with knuckleball jigs and gulp minnows. My first cast towards shore and bang, about a 7 pounder. Next cast bang, a 5 pounder. Long story short I made 6 casts and had 4 beautiful fish. But it didn't stop there. Mark repositioned himself in the boat and he started hammering them as well. I cannot say for sure but I think 13 was the last count before we had to go. Mark added 2 smaller ones to the 3 we had for a limit. And all the fish I caught were released. I won't be keeping anymore until I eat or we can some of the ones I've taken home recently. You can just make out the big one swimming away in one of the pictures.

Yupper, they sure were Frank. Part of the technique is pumping the rod as you troll, so you can tell if the lure is fouled or not. 2 or 3 colors of lead core out reduces the feel/vibration you get to your hands from the lure through the rod butt, so pumping it and creating a more severe vibration is the best way to tell if the lure is still running clean. This big guy deep throated the lure on the fall after a pump, and must have been coming up fast from the rear. Rough part was I had the rod at arms length above my head, almost behind my back, working the lure up on a steep ledge when he hit. Jammed me a good one.

Did a short 3 hour trip this morning on the Saginaw River with my buddy Reel Fishin. Jigged with Knucklballs and Gulps for almost 2 hours in different spots on the river while only having 2 short bumps. And with all the balls of baitfish from top to bottom, along with the huge inverted Check Marks we were seeing under them, we couldn't figure out why we couldn't get anything too go. Well, tomorrow morning we're just going to start with lead core and cut down on the jigging rod room in the boat. Why argue with success. Big fish was just touching the 27 inch mark. And you can see they were not to shy about hitting the #5's today. That big fish jammed me good as I pumped and had the rod lifted way over my head as the core and Rap climbed the ledge we were fishing.

News article and my answer to it taken off another board. Angling for Access Recreation fishing interests see task force as major threat to impose closures By Robert Montgomery Special to ESPNOutdoors.com WASHINGTON, D.C. — Until recently, threats to fishing access have been so diverse and so scattered that they have not raised collective concern among anglers. Why should fishermen in Maine worry that the state of California has closed waters around the Channel Islands? Why should Texans be upset that the National Park Service blocked surf casters from reaching the beaches of Cape Hatteras National Seashore in North Carolina? With the recent creation of a federal Interagency Ocean Policy Task Force, however, anglers should be genuinely concerned about the future availability of their favorite waters — whether freshwater or salt — according to leaders in the recreational fishing industry. "It's time for fishermen to pay attention," said Chris Horton, national conservation director for BASS. "Right now, this is all an administrative directive with no accountability or oversight and no real public input, and that's scary." President Barack Obama quietly created the task force with a June 12 memo. Staffed with "senior policy-level officials" from Interior, Commerce, Agriculture, Homeland Security and other departments and agencies, the task force provides a structure and a mechanism for closures of sport fisheries not only in the blue and coastal waters of oceans, but inland, starting with the Great Lakes. Of course, that is not the stated intent. The President said it was created "To succeed in protecting the oceans, coasts, and Great Lakes, the United States needs to act within a unifying framework under a clear national policy, including a comprehensive, ecosystem-based framework for the long-term conservation and use of our resources." Yet those with interests in recreational fishing say early indications are that many in the administration want to take it in the direction of recreational fishing closures under the guise of better protecting those resources. They claim evidence of that can be seen in the task force's Interim Report, released on Sept. 10. "We are completely baffled as to why the task force failed to acknowledge or include any mention of the key aspects of recreational fishing that were presented to them in detail on more than one occasion," said Phil Morlock, director of environmental affairs for Shimano American Corp./Shimano Canada Ltd. "The significant number of jobs and the economy that more than 60 million American anglers support, and the major conservation efforts by people who fish in all regions of the country, were completely ignored. "No distinction between the obvious dramatic differences between recreational fishing and commercial harvest methods was made. This is the result of a 90-day fire-drill process, as ordered by the President that, not surprisingly, lacks balance, clarity, and quality in the end product. "People who simply want to take their kids fishing deserve better from their government." Mirroring other "fire-drill" initiatives that this administration has undertaken, the task force was given 90 days to develop the interim report and additional 90 days to come up with a framework "for effective coastal and marine spatial planning." In addition to embracing the idea of protected areas in Great Lakes, the memo stated that management be "consistent with international law, including customary international law as reflected by the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea." The U.S. has not signed that international agreement. "Any treaty signed by the United States takes precedence over U.S. law," Morlock said. "We could be ceding jurisdiction — and access — to the U.N." Horton said the administrative bureaucracy is reaching into what traditionally has been state jurisdiction. "Thanks to programs like Wallop-Breaux, paid by anglers, and Pittman-Robertson, paid by hunters, the states have done a good job of managing resources," he said. "They're in the best positions to make decisions on the ground." Once a beachhead has been established in the Great Lakes, however, "there's not a chance that it will stop there," Morlock said, adding that inland lakes, reservoirs, and streams could see closures under this new federal strategy. "This is very serious," added Jim Martin, director of the Berkley Conservation Institute and board chairman of the Theodore Roosevelt Conservation Partnership. "Seventy percent of all freshwater angler days come from lakes and reservoirs that operate at the mercy of water managers. "It's something that we take for granted. Until now, we've believed that places like Table Rock and Guntersville always will be there for us. But we can't be complacent. Policies can change." And those policies can be changed by people who don't know — or don't want to know — that sport fishermen are at the forefront of conservation efforts in oceans and inland waters. "What people have to realize is the more you eliminate recreational angling, the more you eliminate a data source for good management and a monetary investment in the resource," said Gordon Robertson of the American Sportfishing Association. Since 1952, anglers have given more than $5 billion through excise taxes on fishing equipment to the Sport Fish Restoration program, also known as Wallop-Breaux. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service then distributes that money to the states for aquatic education, boating safety, access enhancement, and fisheries research and management. Instead of acknowledging this value, though, some environmental activists want to close fisheries for agenda-driven symbolic reasons, with no scientific justification. And, despite the obvious differences, they continue to reference "fishing" as if commercial and recreational are one and the same in terms of methods and impact on resources. "Environmentalists started that and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (a key member of the task force) has picked up on it," Morlock said. "Overfishing," too, resonates with many who rightly believe that the oceans are in trouble, and they are correct in believing that problems do exist with some ocean stocks, according to Robertson. "Marine Protected Areas and even closures, have a place," he said. "But there's clearly a problem in that people don't know about all the good that recreational fishermen have done for the resource and how resilient fisheries are." What can be done about those who refuse to see and/or acknowledge the importance of recreational fishing and the value that it brings to management of our waters? "It's going to be nearly impossible to change the perspective of people on the task force," Horton said. "The saving grace is that anglers can write to their members of Congress and insist on oversight. "There's supposedly public input into this process, but we haven't seen it," he added. "There has been no opportunity to sit down with these people and come up with a collaborative policy. "Right now, there's just a bunch of federal administrators accepting comments. And as we saw in the Interim Report, they didn't use what we told them earlier." My post. This has been going on in a "Micro" manner for years now in many (if not all) states. Small, isolated public accesses sites very near lakes, rivers or along beaches are (under our noses) being slowly but steadily sold off and/or pinched between private properties. All have been slowly but steadily strangled off by State, County or Local officials to supliment their failng budgets. In others words, selling our public water access lands. Then the next thing you know, theres a private propery sign at the ramp you launched at for years and years, placed there illegally by some land owner who don't like the sound of launching boats at 5:00 am in the morning near his house. Some concerned people will then investigate and/or complain, others will simply quit showing up to fish there. I can think of 3 such spots just off the top of my head right now. One on Houghton Lake that took a court ordered injuction to keep it open, even though it was a County launch. The State itself does the same thing. It bought and closed a sliver of land that was a popular Saginaw Bay ice access point this past winter, because to many people were using it and parking on the ice and not paying the State Park fee to park in their parking lot. As our sport steadily shrinks from lac of interest, it's going to be a harder and harder fight to keep these places open for us to enjoy.